Nor is any argument to be drawn from what is related of the same St. Jerom, that the Angels once fustigated him in the presence of God, and covered him with stripes, because he was fired with an ardent desire of acquiring the style and eloquence of Cicero: for it is evident, that this flagellation was imposed upon him by force, and as an involuntary chastisement. Besides (which would make it completely unjust to draw any inference from this fact) St. Jerom only suffered the flagellation in question in a dream, as himself with great wisdom observes, in his Apology against Ruffinus: ‘I was asleep (says he) when I promised before the tribunal of God never to engage in the study of worldly letters; so that the sacrilege and perjury he charges me with, amount to no more than the violation of a dream.’ If we peruse the History of the Lives of the ancient Anchorites of the East, we shall find great reason to think that they likewise were strangers to the practice of self-flagellation. Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus, who distinguished himself so honourably in the fifth Council of Chalcedon, has, for instance, written the lives of thirty of these Solitaries, who were particularly celebrated on account of the great austerities and mortifications which they practised, and who were afterwards on that account raised to the dignities of Priests or of Bishops; and yet, he has made no mention of their using either rods or whips, in the numerous and different penances which they performed. Thus, we are informed in the Book of Theodoret, that St. James of Nisibe (who was afterwards made a Bishop) had voluntarily deprived himself, during his whole life-time, of the use of fire. He lay upon the ground; he never wore any woollen clothes, but only used goat-skins to hide his nakedness. It is related in the same book, that St. Julian only ate bread made of millet, and that he abstained from the use of almost every kind of drink. St. Martianus never ate but once in a day, and that very sparingly too; so that he continually endured the tortures of hunger and thirst: this holy Man had, besides, a Disciple who never touched either bread or meat. St. Eusebius used to wear an iron chain round his body; his continual fastings and other kinds of macerations rendered him so lean and emaciated, that his girdle would continually slide down upon his heels; and Publius _the elder_, voluntarily submitted to mortifications of the same kind. Simeon only fed upon herbs and roots. St. Theodosius the Bishop used to wear a hair-cloth around his body, and iron chains at his hands and feet. St. Zeno never rested upon a bed, nor looked into a Book. Macedonius, during forty years, never used any other food than barley, and was not afterwards raised to the dignity of Priest, but against his own consent. Bishop Abrahames never tasted bread during the whole time of his being a Bishop, and carried his mortifications so far, as to forbear the use of clear water.